Register now to attend Oct. 25 OSU Beef Industry Conference and companion field day
Friday, October 4, 2019
Key updates relative to beef production practices and market outlooks will be featured at the Oct. 25 Oklahoma State University Beef Industry Conference.
“The annual conference has been a convenient way for state and regional beef producers to hear cutting-edge information from and interact with leading experts from across the country, all in a single setting,” said Paul Beck, holder of the OSU Dennis and Marta White Endowed Chair in Animal Science for the university’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.
Cost is $75 per participant if registering through Oct. 18, and $100 per participant thereafter. Registration information is available online through the OSU Beef Extension website at http://beefextension.com/files/beef-industry-conference.
The conference will take place at the OSU Conoco-Phillips Alumni Center, located at the corner of University Avenue and Hester Street on the southeastern corner of OSU’s Stillwater campus, near historic Old Central. On-site registration will begin at 8 a.m., with refreshments being offered. Sessions will begin with an official welcome by Beck at 9 a.m.
Tryon Wickersham of Texas A&M University’s department of animal science will lead the first session of the day, entitled “Beef’s job title.” His research focuses on improving the economic and environmental sustainability of beef cattle production.
Terry Mader of Mader Consulting LLC then will provide research-based insights about water intake in cattle. A University of Nebraska professor emeritus of animal science, Mader is currently engaged in national and international projects studying and mitigating environmental effects on animal productivity.
The final morning session will focus on harnessing the value of byproduct feeds in beef cattle production. Ronnie Castlebury of Livestock Nutrition Center LLC will lead the session. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in ruminant and beef cattle nutrition from Texas Tech University in 1989 and 1993, respectively.
Following the conference luncheon, Dr. Rosslyn Biggs, OSU Cooperative Extension beef cattle veterinarian, will kick off the afternoon sessions by leading participants through the process of animal disease traceability and identification.
Stan Bevers, owner and operator of the ranch management company Ranch KPI LLC, will lead the final afternoon session focused on making sense of the current cattle and beef markets. A longtime Texas A&M agricultural economist, Bevers specializes in using key performance indicators to evaluate ranch management information systems for the purpose of ranch accounting and analysis, including identifying ranch efficiencies.
“We will also be hosting a companion Beef Cattle Research Field Day on Oct. 24,” Beck said. “There is no cost for conference participants to attend the field day, which will include interactive discussions about different beef cattle research projects at OSU and how they benefit Oklahoma and regional producers.”
The Oct. 24 field day will take place at the OSU Range Cow Research Center, South Range, located at 13810 W. 6th Ave. in Stillwater. Field day sessions will begin at 5 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. and musical entertainment around the campfire will begin at 7 p.m.
“It should be a fun and interesting evening,” Beck said. “We recommend beef producers register for both the conference and field day. Think of it as one-stop shopping, where you get most everything you need in one go.”
The OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources administers the college of the same name and the university’s two state agencies: The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system.
MEDIA CONTACT: Donald Stotts | Agricultural Communications Services | 405-744-4079 | donald.stotts@okstate.edu